Juventus Finally get back to winning ways

Matthijs de Ligt was the unlikely candidate, who scored the winning goal in the midweek Serie A encounter between Spezia and Juventus on Wednesday evening. An incredibly open encounter had Janis Antiste score the second goal of the match for Spezia, just after the second half began. With the score 2–1 to Thiago Motta’s side, it looked as though Juventus were continuing this season’s sequence of scoring first and dropping points in league games. They had scored first in three of their previous four Serie A matches this season and only collected two points in the process.

This time, it was to be different however, as Allegri’s side looked determined to get their first win of the season. Federico Chiesa, who surprisingly hadn’t found the net in the season so far, after winning Euro 2020 with Italy, scored a determined goal to get Juventus back level. 2–2 with just under half an hour to go.

Massimiliano Allegri needed a reaction from his players and it is exactly what he got: “We weren’t able to go 2–0 up but after Spezia took the lead we responded well. We were a bit tense because we’ve lost or drawn games in quite incredible fashion (this season) but we managed to limit the danger today. The lads who came off the bench did really well, entering the fray with the right mentality.”

The final goal came from defender Matthijs de Ligt, who volleyed home from inside the box to FINALLY give Juventus their opening Serie A win of the season. It was a truly remarkable goal from the defender and his sixth goal in the Serie A since joining Juventus from Ajax Amsterdam.

The Dutch defender had this to say after the game:

“It was a tough match. We played well in the first half and scored a good goal but then they equalised with their only chance. The second half began terribly but we managed to come away with the three points today by playing with real character. When you’re Juventus you have to win every game and two points from four matches is not what you expect from Juve. We need to go on a decent run now, taking things one game at a time, and see where it gets us. It’s crucial we play as a team, together — both those on the pitch and those off it. The guys who came off the bench today were a massive help”

Allegri added:

“The most important thing was (that) we won and I’m pleased because we had to dig deep to get the victory … We’ll savour this win now and from tomorrow we’ll concentrate on trying to win our first game at home. We need to hone our focus levels and enjoy ourselves a bit more too, but we defended the right way today. It’s hard to maintain the same line-up with so many games back to back but one thing we do need to work on is improving our ball circulation.”

Juventus moved into thirteenth position with that victory and would face Sampdoria, Torino and Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma in their next three fixtures in the league.

Leonardo Bonucci knows that Sampdoria aren’t going to be an easy opponent, here is what he had to say after the match:

“It was important to return to winning ways, to take a bit of the pressure off, that’s built up with results not going our way. We’ve got the win and that’s the main thing tonight but we must do better, starting on Sunday, when we have a very tricky match against Sampdoria. We must keep working, believe in what we can achieve and show we deserve to wear this jersey day in day out.”

With Juventus already eight points off the top of the table Inter Milan, and that possibly becoming ten points should Napoli beat Sampdoria on Thursday, this victory was an absolute must. With the trend of losing after scoring first stemmed, we look forward to Juventus getting their season back on track.